Holy Apostle's Church in Pimlico, central London, recently hosted
two performances of Sing It! - a musical about the Ten Commandments
performed and stage crewed by more than 70 parish children. The primary
purpose of doing the play was to give the children an equal opportunity
to learn performing arts and religious education. The secondary motive
was to fundraise for their twin parish in Turkana and to start a fund
for future similar dual purpose activities for the children. The premise of Sing It! is simply this: the easiest way to remember
the Ten Commandments is through song. They certainly proved their point!
The performance was engaging in that unique way only children can
commandeer. They danced, they sang and they acted with a purity of heart
that was irresistible! The children were primary school students, and
logistically divided into six teams and a stage team for easier
management and rehearsing. The director, designer, marionette maker etc was the talented Gigi
Ybarra, Parish Pastoral Council chair. She was supported by a huge team
of mothers, dads and parishioners. They even had a special arts and
crafts day in preparation for the event. With sewing machines whirling,
scissors cutting and paints brushes busy the group made costumes,
scenery and props. Children were trained to do lighting, sound effects
and music by Ian Millar and Eileen Sheedy was the technical adviser. The clever usage of a projector screen, approximately 2.5m by 4m,
gave each of the ten scenes a memorable visual backdrop.